Pulse in the Press: Not been to see your GP in five years?

A Pulse exclusive has been making waves in the national newspapers this month. The story revealed a scheme being prepared by NHS managers in the East of England to boot patients who have not seen their GP in five years off practice lists. The scheme is currently being developed at by NHS England, but local GP leaders warned that this could disproportionately affect certain groups, such as adolescents and men aged between 20 and 45, and create extra workload for GP practices through enquiries. Cambridgeshire LMCs chief executive Dr Guy Watkins told Pulse: ‘There are two peaks where it would apply, men between 20 and 45, and the other peak that’s very interesting is children. A large cohort of children between about eight and fifteen. ‘And that’s clearly a safeguarding issue, because they’re post routinely being seen, post most childhood illnesses, but actually they’re not being routinely brought by their parents.’ Andrea Patman, head of commissioning for NHS England (East) said: ‘NHS England would like to clarify this exercise should not result in decreased access for moderately hard to reach groups.’ A Pulse investigation in 2014 revealed how managers’ overzealous list cleansing drives in recent years have led to tens of thousands of genuine patients being removed.   This story has been covered by: ITV News The Guardian Daily Mail The Times The Sun